It was late at night and I couldn’t sleep. The impending doom of our planet due to global warming rarely lets me rest. I stumbled out of bed and took a walk along the San Diego shore to try to clear my mind. I walked all night hoping to become tired and now I see the sun starting to rise. As I walked I heard a phone ring. I didn’t bring my phone with me and I couldn’t see anyone else out here. I saw a phone booth in the distance along the water, the phone shook with the sound of each ring.
(Photo Credit: Will Phillips)
I pick up the phone and I freeze. I hear a welcome from a distant voice and I come to. I am still standing in the phone booth yet nothing seems the same. A paper blows across the ground pinned up against my leg by the wind. I hold it up. It is now the year 7018, 5,000 years from what it seems like just a second ago. I take a further look at the area around me. I am on what it looks to be like a raised platform above the water. Yet, the ground below me states the exact longitude and latitude that I was standing at 5,000 years earlier. National Geographic in 2013 said that it would take 5,000 years to melt all of the ice on earth. No way that happened. We never did anything about it?
I cannot even see the land from where I am at. I move to a cityscape touristy telescope and see a US flag on what looks like Mount Laguna, yet the flag only has 49 stars on it. I recount a few times still only 49 stars. I pick the paper back up on the throwback Thursday column they reminisce about how entertaining the state of Florida was until it became completely under water. RIP Florida. Georgia seems to have taken Florida’s place since many were able to rush north to higher ground along the Appalachian Trail. I kind of wish I had a TV right now to see the new Cops episodes in the mountain/beach towns of Georgia inhabited by decedents of Florida’s finest. Flip flops and overalls sprinting for freedom would really cheer me up right now.
Looks like all of the ice really has melted around the world according to the USGS reports. Black carbon due to serious droughts and wildfires were a major contributor at first, then it was a runaway heating planet with CO2 raising 2 parts per million per year. The sea rose 216 feet. The ocean has become acidic by dissolving CO2 and heavily polluted by giving many major cities along the coast a dunk under water. I jump in an electric helicopter flight off the raised platform above the ocean back to the mainland. Once I get there, things seem pretty usual, unfortunately. I thought we would have created more by now. Air conditioning seems to be working properly. Cities are what it looks like to be really big malls. Fully air-conditioned and enclosed with nice apartment buildings attached. People do not seem to mind the toxic ocean water or lack of fish or animals to eat. Everyone lives off a vegan diet and seems to be really happy. Video games seem to be fully immersive and provide plenty of stimulus in a place where most of the time is spent inside. People do not have to work due to the fact that they have been able to automate pretty much everything and have been able to harness the sun for almost infinite energy needs.
This seems like a terrible future of our planet, yet I think I had it worse growing up Florida. So I think I am going to stay here and get used to soy grown in these indoor aquaponics towers. Humans are surprisingly good at surviving and making the most of terrible conditions.
Thank you,
Will
Resource
Lutgens, F. K., Tarbuck, E.J., & Tasa, D. (2018). Essentials of Geology. New York: Pearson.
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